Showing results by author "Wendy Orr" in All Categories

When Jack invites a group of scientists to visit, they bring their children as well. But two of the scientists have plans other than studying algae. By the time Nim discovers what they really want, and what they will do to get it, the children are in grave danger. And so is the island! Nim must choose between saving a natural treasure and saving someone's life.

When Honey was four and her brother Rumi was a tiny baby, her family loaded up their converted ice-cream-van-camper and drove away from all they knew, as an illness swept the sad wide world. High in the mountains, they crossed a bridge to follow a mysterious herd of enchanted horses into a sheltered valley. The bridge and the track disappeared behind them – and now they are trapped in paradise. In the valley of horses, Honey's family becomes self-sufficient, fishing, growing vegetables and using solar power. But no messages from the outside world are ever received.

Finding yourself in hospital, in a bed full of shattered glass, is traumatic. Coming to terms with multiple fractures and probable long-term difficulties is something else again - slow, painful, full of obstacles and questions with no clear answers. Anna is used to being athletic, popular, 'normal'. Now she feels the layers of her familiar self being peeled away; nothing is normal or easy. Can she pick up the pieces of her life? What part will Hayden and Luke play? And who, now, is Anna Duncan?

Deep in the bush, where the trees grow tall, Finn discovers an old deserted shack. Inside is shivery cold, with green fungus on the walls. When a dog growls and a gravelly voice snarls, Finn's hair stands up like bristles on a brush. An old man and his dog are glowing in the darkness. Jack Henry lived in the shack 100 years ago and was friends with all the wild creatures. When Finn is with the old ghost, he can feel what the birds are singing and what the animals are feeling.

If she had stayed to load the kiln as she should have, she'd never have seen the ship. Mama said the ship still would have been there, so everything had to happen the way it did. But that's not true. Clio saw it and the world changed. When a raiders' ship appears off the coast, the goddess demands an unthinkable price to save the town – and Clio's grandmother creates a sacred statue to save Clio's life.

I wonder if the first day of Learning is always like this - do the girls on the hill always feel the ground tremble under their feet? Leira is about to start her initiation as a priestess when her world is turned upside down. A violent earthquake leaves her home - and her family - in pieces. And the goddess hasn't finished with the island yet. With her family, Leira flees across the sea to Crete, expecting sanctuary. But a volcanic eruption throws the entire world into darkness.

There are two ways of looking at Aissa's story. She's the miracle girl who escaped the raiders. Or she's the cursed child who called the Bull King's ship to the island. The firstborn daughter of a priestess is cast out as a baby, and after raiders kill her adopted family, she is abandoned at the gates of the Great Hall, anonymous and mute. Called No-Name, the cursed child, she is raised a slave, and not until she is 12 does she learn her name is Aissa: the dragonfly.

It was the biggest, the strangest, the most wonderful pet shop in the whole world. It was called The Noahs’ Ark, and it was built like a ship. “After all,” said Mrs Noah, “with a name like ours, what other kind of shop could we have?” But instead of rocking on the deep blue sea, the ship sat in the middle of a wide green park. On the other side of the park, in a tall, tall building, lived Sophie. Every night, Sophie looked out at the Noahs’ Ark and made two impossible wishes—and one that was not quite impossible.